Benjamin Franklin – an American statesman – is credited with the saying “Nothing is certain except death and taxes.” We are in the tax season. The province has just announced its new budget for the next fiscal year. Christia Freeland on April 16 will read the federal budget. Income taxes must be filed by April 30. Already taxpayers in Fort Frances have received notice that their tax bill will rise by five percent this year and the first payment has already been demanded. Taxes are inevitable and will always increase.
While Premier Ford has announced that the Ontario government will continue to keep the 5.7 cent a litre off gas pumps through to 2025, on April 1 of this year the federal government raised the carbon tax at the gas pumps by 3.3 cents per litre. The increased carbon tax was also applied to propane, natural gas, diesel fuel and home heating oil. Since the carbon tax was introduced in 2019, the tax has added 17.6 cents to a litre of gasoline. The federal government has raised the carbon tax to $80 per tonne. Not all provinces will go along with the increase, but in Fort Frances the gas stations quickly raised the price at the pump.
A friend of mine who used to sell life insurance has told me that paying taxes is a good thing. It means that you are alive and well. I do begrudge writing that cheque after all the calculations have been completed on filling in my income tax. At one time, I looked forward to filing my tax returns knowing that a refund would be in the mail. Now I fret that with the filing I will still owe the government some more money.
I could complain about the provincial budget and that it will place the province further in debt, but there are signs that it could have positive impacts on the lives of residents. More money will be earmarked by the province for primary health care where over six thousand people in the district are without a primary physician. More money will be allocated for infrastructure and housing where a shortage of housing exists in the community. More funding will be made available for recreation facilities.
June 12 is the official “Tax Freedom Day” for Ontario residents. PEI has the earliest tax Freedom Day of June 7 while the residents of Quebec have the latest on June 30. Tax Freedom Day is calculated that all the taxes that will be collected from municipal, provincial and federal governments for the year will equal the amount of money you will have earned to that day. The amount of money that you earn from then on will be yours. The trouble with tax freedom days is that they become later in the year every year.
From the publisher pen
Jim Cumming
Former Publisher Fort Frances Times
